Thursday, September 18, 2014

More NROLW

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a walk from my house down toward Rock Creek Trail and back. It was very pleasant weather for walking; I have to take advantage before it gets cold and dark too early. I walked about 3.8 miles.

This morning, I did the second workout for the second stage of NROLW. There are a lot of exercises in this workout, plus some HIIT at the end, so it took me about 65 minutes to do. Again, each move was 2 sets of 10 reps with 75 sec of rest in between. I shortened the rest between the ab moves to 60 sec because I was getting impatient and they weren't that hard. The HIIT sequences were 60 sec of work and 120 sec of rest.

Wide-grip deadlift from box: I used the book's diagram guideline and used my step with one additional tier. I lifted 68 lb. This didn't feel too tough.

Bulgarian split squat: I used my weight bench to elevate my leg on this one. I held a 25 lb dumbbell, which was too light. This was 10 reps per leg per set.

Pull-ups: I did unassisted pull-ups and got 3 for each set.

Reverse lunge from box with forward reach: this is kind of an odd move. The cueing in the book said to use light weights, so I used 5 lb per hand for the first set. However, that was way to light. I switched to 12 lb per hand for the second set, which may have been just a bit too heavy.

Dumbbell prone Cuban snatch: no comment from the book about the weight on this one, but I could tell I would need light weights, as this focuses on the rotator cuff. I used 5 lb per hand and used my stability ball to support me at an angle.

Swiss-ball crunch: I upped these reps to 20 per set. I put the stability ball under my back and farther toward my butt, which made it harder. Still not a problem to get 20.

Reverse crunch: I upped these reps to 20 per set. They did get hard right at the end.

Hanna side flexion 1: an odd move that is clearly for mobility and not for strength. These were not difficult.

Prone cobra: I did a 60 sec hold in each set. I can't get my arms twisted around as much as they show in the book, but I don't think that's really the point.

HIIT: I did each of these moves for 60 sec. Honestly, they were hard, and I had to take short breaks. First high knees, then tuck jumps, then sideways hops, then split lunge jumps, then burpees.

Overall, this workout did not feel extremely hard. A lot of the moves are using lighter weights because they are aimed more at stabilizer muscles or mobility. I burned about 205 calories.